Game of Thrones: Bethesda Not Making an Open World Video Game [Updated]

[UPDATE: Target has officially shot down this Game of Thrones game rumor, with a spokesman having issued a statement to Forbes, confirming that the original ad was fake. The rest of this article has been left as it was first published.]

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There’s a new rumor going around that American video game publisher Bethesda Softworks LLC may be working on an open-world Game of Thrones video game based on a listing currently up on Target’s website. Bethesda is best known for their The Elder Scrolls saga including Skyrim, Oblivion and Morrowind (which takes place in the high fantasy world of Tamriel), their Fallout and Dishonored series and Prey.

This isn’t the first time Bethesda has been linked to Game of Thrones. The video game company was once offered to make an RPG video game based in Westeros back in 2011, but ended up turning it down in order to make Skyrim instead becasue they wanted to work on their own world. Even though Skyrim is considered one of the best RPG open-world games ever, it would have been pretty cool to visit locations like Winterfell and King’s Landing while doing quests for characters like Ned Stark and Tyrion Lannister.

Now, according to Tech Raptor, it sounds like the ultimate Game of Thrones video game experience may still be in the cards for Bethesda. Thanks to some dedicated internet detectives, it was discovered on Target’s website that they have a page listing for “Bethesda : Game of Thrones” with no further information.

While this doesn’t confirmed that a Game of Thrones RPG is in the works by Bethesda, it’s pretty convenient that this popped up on Target’s website the day before the season 7 finale ‘The Dragon and the Wolf’ premieres on HBO. So it wouldn’t be surprising if after the super-sized finale tonight, or within the next couple of days, we get an announcement from Bethesda, HBO or even author George R.R. Martin himself about a new video game in the works. We also know that Bethesda currently has two unnamed, large-scale products in the works the same scope as Skyrim and Fallout, so there’s a good chance that one of those games may be set in Westeros.

It also wouldn’t be surprising if this rumor turned out to be true considering Bethesda and Game of Thrones is basically a match made in heaven. Previous Game of Thrones video games include the 2014 Telltale Games episodic game titled Game of Thrones, which received praise and is currently working on a second season, and the 2012 RPG game (also simply titled Game of Thrones) developed by Cyanide and published by Atlus USA which received mostly mixed to negative reviews praising its storyline, but tearing apart its graphics and combat experience.

So Bethesda might just be the development company Game of Thrones needs to make an awesome game worthy of the deep mythology, sprawling geography and complex characters that made the series one of the current top fantasy franchises in literature and television.